Betaville is an open-source participatory online environment, in which ideas for new works of public art, architecture, urban design, and development can be shared, discussed, tweaked, and brought to maturity in their city context.
The Betaville platform is designed to be deployable by individuals, small groups (say, a project class or a neighborhood association), all the way up to professional design firms and planning offices of major cities: any group that is serious about offering a proposal in the spirit of a programmer's RFC (request for comment). In this case, the proposal takes the form of a 3D model set in a "mirror world" of the local context, with a built-in discussion forum, and provision for multiple iterations. The environment can accept models from authoring tools as simple as Google Sketchup, or as elaborate as Autodesk Maya. Anyone with access to a web browser can contribute, and every contribution remains accessible.
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